Authors and author sessions for 2015 AASL National Conference

At the AASL National Conference Committee meeting I reported on the other day, our author co-chairs, Mary Ann Schuer from California and Karen Perry from North Carolina, reported on their progress in securing authors for panels and concurrent sessions. Here is the information that can be shared at this time, as publicized on the AASL website:

Author Banquet

Friday, November 6 | 6:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

Join colleagues in a delicious meal served in courses interspersed with short author talks from Matt de la Pena, Sonia Manzano, and Rita Williams-Garcia.  Dinner will be followed by a roundtable discussion with Matt, Sonia, and Rita. The theme for the evening is “Diverse Authors, Diverse Voices.”  Books will be available for purchase and author signing will take place following dinner and the roundtable.

Matt de la Peña has established himself as an author to pay attention to. His books continually garner fantastic praise and award recognition. His first picture book, A Nation’s Hope, received 4 starred reviews, was New York Times Top 10 Illustrated Book of 2011, a Booklist Editor’s Choice Best Book of 2011, and an SLJ Best Book of 2011. Appearance made possible by Penguin Young Readers Group.

Sonia Manzano has been a presence on Public Television since the 1970's. After ten years starring as Maria on Sesame Street, Sonia began writing scripts for the series and has fifteen Emmy Awards as part of the Sesame Street writing staff. Her first picture book, the semi-autobiographical No Dogs Allowed!, was published in April 2004 and adapted into a stage musical. In 2013, The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, was named a Pura Belpré Honor Book for narrative. Appearance made possible by Scholastic.

Rita Williams-Garcia’s Newbery Honor–winning novel, One Crazy Summer, was a winner of the Coretta Scott King Author Award, a National Book Award finalist, the recipient of the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, and a New York Times bestseller. She is also the author of six distinguished novels for young adults. Appearance made possible by HarperCollins Children's Books.

Registration
An additional registration fee of $65 is required in advance of the event.

Author Breakfast

Sunday, November 8 | 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

End your conference with fireworks!  Join friends for brunch as author Rae Carson (Girl of Fire and Thorns) moderates a fantasy panel of Colleen Gleeson (The Clockwork Scarab), Josephine Angelini (Trial by Fire), Kate Messner (All the Answers), and debut author Sabaa Tahir (An Ember in the Ashes.)  This promises to be a freewheeling discussion of female character development and the fantasy genre for elementary, middle, and high school interests. Books will be available for purchase and author signing will take place following the discussion.

Josephine Angelini is the internationally bestselling author of the Starcrossed trilogy, Starcrossed,Dreamless, and Goddess. She is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in theater, with a focus on the classics. Originally from Massachusetts, she now lives in Los Angeles with her screenwriter husband and three shelter cats. Appearance made possible by Feiwel and Friends, an imprint of Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group.

Rae Carson’s books tend to contain lots of adventure, magic, and smart girls who make (mostly) smart choices. She is the author of the acclaimed, New York Times best-selling Girl of Fire and Thorns series:The Girl of Fire and Thorns, The Crown of Embers, and The Bitter Kingdom. She especially loves to write about questions she doesn’t know the answers to. Rae Carson is originally from California but now lives in Arizona with her husband. Appearance made possible by HarperCollins Children's Books.

Colleen Gleason is an award-winning, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author best known for her urban fantasy series The Gardella Vampire Hunters and Stoker & Holmes, a YA steampunk series. Colleen lives in the midwest United States with her family and two dogs, and is always working on her next book. Appearance made possible by Chronicle Books.

Kate Messner is an award-winning author whose books for kids have been New York Times Notable, Junior Library Guild, IndieBound, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections. The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. was the winner of the 2010 E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers. Kate also spent fifteen years teaching middle school and earned National Board Certification in 2006. She lives on Lake Champlain with her family and loves spending time outside. Appearance made possible by Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

Sabaa Tahir was born in London but grew up in California’s Mojave Desert at her family’s 18-room motel. After graduating from UCLA, Sabaa became an editor on the foreign desk at The Washington Post. Three summers later, she came up with the concept for her debut novel, An Ember in the Ashes.Sabaa currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family. Appearance made possible by Penguin Young Readers Group.

Registration for the AASL National Conference in Columbus, OH, November 5-8, 2015 opens in early February at national.aasl.org

Assembling with the Affiliates: Day One

"What is the Affiliate Assembly and what does it do?" Is a question I am often asked by school librarians at ALA meetings and conferences. If the people active in the school library world are confused, I can imagine what school librarians back in the trenches are thinking. "What value does the Assembly bring to my work?" "Why have an Affiliate?" "Why send reps from Massachusetts?" 

I am happy to report that we are trying to remedy this lack of understanding about Affiliate, all while strengthening the organization. The AASL Affiliate Assembly met today to begin a conversation around community building that will be continued into the Annual Meeting in San Francisco in June.

Prior to the meeting, we, as Affiliate Reps, were asked to think about the following three questions:

1. What are your aspirations/goals for the Affiliate Assembly?

2. What would be possible obstacles to reaching those aspirations/goals?

3. What would be solutions that would allow Affiliate members to reach these goals together?

We met in small groups, each with representation the different regions. The data from this meeting will be used as a starting place in June. I am eager to hear the responses from the other groups, on the mean time, here's what my group is thinking:

Aspirations/Goals

The Affiliate should produce something tangible that school librarians can use - a statement or a product

The Affiliate should work to improve crowd sourcing among the states-communicate initiatives and ideas

The Affiliate should help with advocacy.

AASL a should build a relationship with ISTE

AASL would take on more STEM/STEAM presence

Adopt and Promote a tech-infused library program

More free activities and resources for school library initiatives- level the playing field for all school library programs - maybe states buy into AASL sources and then distribute. (I.e., school library month - some free resources, but many cost money and budgets are limited)

Obstacles

Vision of school libraries is often out-dated

Perception of school library programs as being all about literacy, but not science and technology

Time

Resources

Money

Frequent turnover of Affiliate reps

Solutions

More state library associations collaborate with state CUE organizations to put on conferences like the MSLA/MassCUE conference.

AASL taking on a bigger social networking presence - Twitter night, etc...

More resources like the elevator speech cards and buttons

Have one national/regional/state conference theme - builds consistency of message, lowers costs,  spreads the work. 

We've got our work cut out for us!

AASL 2015 National Conference Committee Meeting

With Debra Kay Logan from Ohio, I have the pleasure of co-chairing AASL's next national conference, which will be held in Columbus, OH, November 5-8, 2015. MSLA'S Judi Paradis is co-chair of the subcommittee in charge of selecting and scheduling the concurrent sessions. Our entire committee of over a dozen school librarians from around the country, along with staff from AASL, met today. This is our second time meeting in person, but the first time everyone was able to attend. We hold monthly conference calls, but it was great to see everyone face-to-face.

Here are some quick notes of highlights that we will be reporting to the AASL Affiliate Assemby tomorrow.

Theme: Experience Education Evolution

We are looking at school librarians as proactive leaders in an educational environment that is in a state of constant flux. Change is the constant. The conference will embrace being aware of, informed about, managing, leading and assisting others with changing resources, programs, technology, methodologies, standards and teacher expectations. We want school librarians to leave Columbus feeling that they have a more than strong grasp of the evolving educational environment. We also want them to feel innovative, invigorated, inspired, excited and ready to stretch old boundaries and instill new energy into their school library programs. We want administrators to leave with a clear picture of school librarians at the forefront as a confident, willing, comfortable and nimble vanguard. We also see a connection between evolution and revolution. We are not passive in this changing system. We are advocates for students, teachers and learning

New:

• Administrators free with their school librarian
• Opening general session each day with thought-leaders in education
• Heidi Hayes Jacobs, expert in curriculum and instruction 
• Project Connect Panel: Administrators Empowering School Library Programs, sponsored by Follett
• Brian Selznick, author of Hugo Cabret and Wonderstruck, with a new book coming out in time for our conference
• Closing keynote: Eszter Hargittai, who believes the concept of the digital native is a myth
• Highlight affiliates and regions by providing opportunity for attendees to meet and network with others from their state and region
• Exploratorium/IdeaXchange is now the IdeaLab, featuring learning stations with large screen monitors showcasing best practices in topics related to education evolution
• UnConference with new twists and maybe some late-night games
• Fun closing session that will be uniquely Columbus

Registration will open in early February.

In a separate post, I'll write more about author events.

Chicago Midwinter Meetings

Hello,
Packing here for my last far away Midwinter meeting with MSLA.  Next year we'll be a subway ride away in Boston--so get ready to join us!
Midwinter is a working conference and we are all going with missions for MSLA--Most of us will be working as part of AASL Affiliate Assembly where school librarians from around the nation gather to address concerns and set standards for school libraries around the country.  Kathy Lowe is co-chair of the committee planning the next annual AASL National Conference and I'm working with her as co-chair of programs.  It is exciting to plan a conference on this scale with a team of librarians from all over the U.S.   We also plan to go through the exhibitor hall to gather freebies to give away at our Unconference Day in Amherst in March, and of course, we'll be checking out great authors and speakers with an eye toward sharing the best of the current library world with our members.
Keep checking in for updates throughout the weekend!

Your Vegas is showing!

ALA Vegas was my first ALA national conference. Before even getting to the conference, there were plenty of jokes and pokes of fun about the location for a librarian conference from colleagues, friends and family members. As it turns out, it was an interesting place to attend professional development.   The infographic: the 7 reasons nothing leaves Vegas gives a true sense of Vegas.

A lot of my time was spent shadowing Judi Paradis, our current president of MSLA.  As the president elect, this time was invaluable for gaining an understanding of the current menu of items for the upcoming year. Because it was concentrated, it was like attending an accelerated class!  I am grateful to Judi for her wisdom and her ability to speak about the organization for upwards of 8 hours a day!

In between our marathon conversations, we were attending meetings (Affiliate Assemblies, AASL Presidents meeting, ASCLA ebook Consortia), sessions, the vendor hall, and awards ceremonies! It was a full schedule. I Tweeted and posted to Facebook throughout and I found a cool compilation of the conference from SEEN.

Here are some of my takeaways, impressions and notes:

1. Librarians across the country are dealing with many of the same issues that we are dealing with in Massachusetts. It's time to join efforts with as many education/library organizations as possible to maximize our energies.

2. Award ceremonies make me (and everyone around me) cry! Library stories are heartfelt and deep.  It's what draws many of us to the profession - either a story of our own or one that we learn about. I am really glad that I was able to attend a part of the American Indian Youth Literature Award Ceremony.  The group was small and incredibly grateful to have us attend.

3. Gamers experience 10 Positive Emotions while playing video games - regardless of what is happening in their lives. Research shows that you will have more emotional resilience if you feel positive emotions on a daily basis.  Game play is neurologically opposite of depression.  Jane McGonigal was an interesting speaker and I plan to read her book.  If you have a minute, check out her TED talks.  Here are a few games that she suggested:  Fold It, Eyewire, Ora save the forest, Whale Song project.

4. The Best Websites for teaching and learning session was packed - standing room only! I'm looking forward to playing with these as well as the Best Apps for teaching and learning over the summer. Lots of potential and great names that students will get a kick out of.

5. Highlight: The Presidents Program featuring Lois Lowry and Jeff Bridges!!  I ended up in the overflow room and watched the interview on the large screen - but it was still so exciting to know that they were in the same building!    Barbara Stripling asked compelling questions and Lowry and Bridges seemed to have a comfortable rapport.   My favorite quotes from the interview:
"Do you know why hunger persists? Lack of community. The whole world is a community." - 
Jeff Bridges
"All my books are optimistic because kids need to know that they can change the world. They're all we have." - Lois Lowry 

ALA Interview with Lois Lowry

6. Remember to check out all of the hashtags from the conference! A couple of favorites:
   #alaac14, #msla,  and here is a fun one:  #alaleftbehind 

Welcome to Vegas: Emergency Exit Only 

10 Positive Emotions of Gamers:  Jane McGonigal 

Youth Dancers - American Indian Literature Awards 

Gale Booth 

Learning for Life (L4L)

AASL has a group of representatives from each of its affiliated state school library organizations who are responsible for helping their members implement Standards for the 21st Century Learner and Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Programs.  This initiative is called Learning for Life, or L4L. The group meets at each ALA Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting to share the work they are doing in their states, along with achievements and challenges to their school library programs. MSLA's L4L Coordinator is Amy Short, Director of Library Media for the Boston Public Schools and also our Boston Area Co-Director on the MSLA Executive Board.

At the meeting at ALA Annual this year, we learned that we are not alone in our struggles to find qualified candidates for open positions and maintain school library programs, and that terrific work is being done in many states to promote the AASL Standards and Guidelines among affiliate members. L4L Coordinators have their own area on ALA Connect, an virtual meeting place where those involved in ALA and AASL initiatives, task forces and committees can collect and share information and support. L4L Coordinators use Connect to share the resources they have developed with their colleagues across the country.

Here is the report Amy submitted for today's meeting:

Successes in our state: We held the following L4L session at our Annual Conference. There were approximately 60 attendees at the session:  Learning4Life: Think, Create, Share, and Grow! What is ALA's "School Libraries @ the Core of Education"? Learn about this new initiative as well as how to navigate the American Association of School Librarians free tools, including the Learning 4 Life (L4L) Lesson Plan Database and the Common Core Crosswalk. Find out how you can use these tools to align your library program with the Common Core standards, collaborate for teacher and student success, and develop/implement SMART goals. Think, create, share, andgrow with L4L!

Bill S.1906 has been introduced on MSLA’s behalf by state legislators. Bill S.1906 establishes a commission to evaluate the status of school library programs in each school district in the Commonwealth in terms of staffing, materials, and program requirements or guidelines. The bill has been passed as an amendment to the MA House budget and prior to that, the MA Senate also passed it as a separate bill, so as soon as the Governor signs the budget, it will become official. Once that happens, the Guidelines will be referenced in developing long range goals for school library programs. 

MSLA has been working the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) to develop a school librarian-specific performance evaluation tool. The committee working on this is creating an overlay document that adapts the teacher evaluation tool to make it more effective and specific and aligned with the Guidelines.

District-determined Measures (DDM’s) to be used for performance evaluationsare a hot topic in Massachusetts. The Tool for Real-time Assessment of Information Literacy Skills (TRAILS) (http://www.trails-9.org/) is a MA DESE-approved DDM. MSLA holds monthly Twitter chats (#MSLA). One of our recent chats was about DDM’s. It was evident that from the number of chat participants and the even larger number of people who accessed the Twitter chat archive afterwards that our MSLA members are very interested in learning more aboutDDM’s. Therefore, we are planning a day-long professional development session around DDM’s for late summer/early fall, in time for school librarians to plan their SMART goals and measures for evaluation.

L4L Resources: Resources can be found on the MSLA website http://www.maschoolibraries.org/

Major problems facing our state: We are facing a major shortage of licensed school librarians to fill openings in Massachusetts; we have many openings and a very small pool of qualified applicants.

Next steps: One thing we might want to consider for the future is to recommend that librarians have one SMART Goal related to implementing the Standards or using the Guidelines. 

AASL Awards

AASL presented national awards Saturday morning and it was both a proud morning for Massachusetts and an inspiring morning for all attending.   MSLA members went early to cheer on Cathy Collins, librarian from Sharon HS, who was awarded AASL's Intellectual Freedom award.  However, we were stunned to hear about a second Massachusetts recipient from our state.  Rowe elementary school received a $50,000 grant from the More Than Words fund to rebuild its school library, which was destroyed by fire in 2012.

There were several other awards that were truly inspirational.
The Superintendent of Schools of Harlington County TX won administrator of the year for his remarkable support of libraries in his district where more than 90% of students live in poverty.  He told us that his mom was a library aide, and her commitment to seeing that her 6 kids were library users led to 3 of them receiving PhDs and becoming school superintendents in Texas.

The first Roald Dahl "Miss Honey" award for social justice award went to a remarkable librarian from Kansas who used "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" as a jumping off point to discuss child poverty with her elementary students.   Their culminating project was to sew blankets for babies born to female prisoners in Ecuador.  Kleenex were passed.

To read more about these people, as well as the bike mobile librarian, the school library program of the year and the amazing collaborators of Kutztown PA, look here: "AASL announces 2014 award recipients", American Library Association, April 22, 2014.

http://www.ala.org/news/press-releases/2014/04/aasl-announces-2014-award-recipients (Accessed June 29, 2014)

And....figure out what awards you ( or your library hero) is eligible for!  There IS fame and fortune for great school libraries.